How does one know if they're Imp-Manning? Here are five of the most common tactics, their rank, conditional utility, and risks.
summary
This conversation deepens the concept of impression management, exploring various tactics individuals use to influence how they are perceived in social and workplace settings. The discussion highlights the most common strategies, including ingratiation, self-promotion, supplication, intimidation, and exemplification, while also addressing the risks and implications of these behaviors. This discussion again points towards the potential negative consequences of over-relying on impression management tactics and their tendency to backfire.
takeaways
- Impression management is an unconscious behavior for many.
- Ingratiation is the most common tactic used in workplaces.
- Self-promotion is often used when the risk of being challenged is low.
- Supplication can lead to negative perceptions if overused.
- Intimidation is a downward influence tactic.
- Exemplification requires real effort and can lead to burnout.
- Women face unique challenges in self-promotion strategies.
- Impression management tactics can backfire and harm relationships.
- Watch yourself and colleagues for examples and downfalls of imp-manning.
keywords
impression management, workplace dynamics, social behavior, self-promotion, ingratiation, power dynamics, psychological tactics, social influence, workplace relationships
We return, to keep talking about faking it. For social and practical survival!
In case you’re wondering “when am I Imp Manning?” (Because it is an unconscious and automatic behavior for most,) Let’s talk about the most popular forms, how they rank in common use, how they involve power dynamics, and the risks and rewards of each. To help identify the imp manners in and around us.
Today we have a paper that… I’ll be honest… doesn’t have a sample size that anyone should believe in. And is written in non-native English so there are a few grammatical hangups. As always, take an individual study with a grain of salt.
But it is peer-reviewed and does make some interesting points, so we’re going to hear what they have to say and manage our sodium on the other end.
That paper is:
Tactics of Impression Management: Relative Success on Workplace Relationship
Dr Rajeshwari Gwal
The International Journal of Indian Psychology, 2015
Remember, as always, in this paper they talk about workplace trends, influences, and outcomes. And also, we can apply this to any hierarchical, resource-gating, system. Like our families, friend groups, communities, buttlicking governments, and other social settings. The applications are endless.
And they say:
During social interactions; individuals attempt to control their images both consciously and unconsciously (Schlenker,1980, p.V). This is called as Impression Management.
Impression Formation is an important universal trend for all individuals and managing these impressions affects one’s life deeply (Sallot,2 002). There is a need for those for organizational settings to understand the basic elements or constructs involved in impression management (Crane, & Crane, 2004).Newcomers continuously use Impression management tactics to be accepted by the organization, whereas those who have matured with the organization, used in order to be influential (Demir, 2002). Impression management strategies have a lot to do with the protection and maintenance of power and has an impact on organization’s culture and performance (Jones & Pittman,1982).
Individuals use different techniques for boosting their image which generally fall into two categories viz: effort increase their appeal to others (self enhancement) and efforts to make the target person feel good in various ways (other enhancement). Self- enhancement make use of specific strategies to bend the truth and enhance one’s own appeal whereas in Other-enhancement tactics used play an important role in generating liking for the person responsible for them (Byrne,1992).
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
And, as stated before, the sample size here is a mere 50 Academicians from various Academic Institutes.
Impression management tactics were measured by a scale taken from Bolino and Turnley (1999), based on the classification system proposed by Jones and Pittman (1982). Using Bolino Turnley (1999) Impression Management Scale the respondents answered statements by thinking about "how often you behave this way” The taxonomy in questionnaire includes: Self-Promotion, whereby individuals point out their abilities or accomplishments in order to be seen as competent by observers; Ingratiation, whereby individuals do favors or use flattery to elicit an attribution of likability from observers; Exemplification, whereby people self-sacrifice or go above and beyond the call of duty in order to gain the attribution of dedication from observers; Intimidation, where people signal their power or potential to punish in order to be seen as dangerous by observers; and Supplication, where individuals advertise their weaknesses or shortcomings in order to elicit an attribution of being needy from observers.
DATA ANALYSIS & FINDINGS
SELF-PROMOTION
Talk proudly about your experience or education.
Make people aware of your talents or qualifications.
Let others know that you are valuable to the organization.
Make people aware of your accomplishments.
INGRATIATION
Compliment your colleagues so they will see you as likable.
Take an interest in your colleagues’ personal lives to show them that you are friendly.
Praise your colleagues for their accomplishments so they will consider you a nice person.
Do personal favors for your colleagues to show them that you are friendly.
EXEMPLIFICATION
Stay at work late so people will know you are hard working.
Try to appear busy, even at times when things are slower.
Arrive at work early to look dedicated.
Come to the office at night or on weekends to show that you are dedicated.
INTIMIDATION
Be intimidating with coworkers when it will help you get your job done.
Let others know you can make things difficult for them if they push you too far.
Deal forcefully with colleagues when they hamper your ability to get your job done.
Deal strongly or aggressively with coworkers who interfere in your business.
Use intimidation to get colleagues to behave appropriately.
SUPPLICATION
Act like you know less than you do so people will help you out.
Try to gain assistance or sympathy from people by appearing needy in some areas.
Pretend not to understand something to gain someone’s help.
Act like you need assistance so people will help you out.
Pretend to know less than you do so you can avoid an unpleasant assignment.
And with that… I bet you’re already calculating which Imp Man tactics are your more common go-tos, purposely or unconsciously. I bet you’re also having flashbacks to various coworkers and THEIR particular brand of obnoxious impression managing, plus personal feelings about how well it worked.
But what did the research say?
Top strategy:
INGRATIATION. With a side of conformity.
By using ingratiation the respondents are concerned about influencing the targets liking for him/her. In particular Opinion conformity (represented by the item: Praise your colleagues for their accomplishments so they will consider you a nice person.) has the highest value as 3.143. (my words: so this was found to be the most widely used form of impression management, and it is both bootlicking and falsifying personal values in line with the organization, because you have to pretend to care about the accomplishments that will matter the most to the crowd in order to praise your coworker most effectively. Their words:) In an organizational setting the more difference there is in the power between two people the more likely it is that the lower one will imitate behaviors and values of the higher one (Rosenfeld et al., 1995).
With great power imbalance comes greater likelihood of aligning with influential people. AND with Ingratiation as the top Impression Management technique, apparently it is also common to let powerful people know exactly HOW influential you find them to be, in a positive direction, as one sniffs that butthole. Telling people they matter, in hopes that they then like you back – apparently it’s a human crutch.
Next most common Imp Man Strat?
SELF-PROMOTION
And The table shows the highest value for Self – promotion as 2.943 for the item- “Let others know that you are valuable to the organization”. They use self-descriptive communication to be seen as competent. The goal when using this strategy is usually an immediate one such as getting admitted into a university or a new job (Tedeschi & Riess, 1981, p.11). Self-promotion is a proactive process in which the self-promoter has to actively say things to show the competence or at least undertake actions so that the competence is displayed to the target. Self-promotion is most often used when the chance of their claims being challenged or discredited is low (Rosenfeld et al., 1995, p.51). Next to this it was also found that the occurrence of self-promotion increases when individuals have the opportunity to openly impress someone with a higher status about their competence (Giacalone & Rosenfeld, 1986).
SO again, it’s all about power. Showing YOUR power to people IN power, and convincing them that you’re important too. In this case, the strategy is only relevant or worth the risk when the likelihood of a lie or exaggeration going unnoticed is high.
But self-promotion is very common. Second only to mutual likability. Suggesting that bolstering one’s own appearance of performance is a risk that many are willing and able to take.
Third most popular tactic?
SUPPLICATION
And specifically: Most of the respondents score the highest value 2.114 for the item- “Act like you know less than you do so people will help you out”. The individual emphasizes his own dependence and weakness to obtain help from a more powerful other. By advertising their lack of ability, they attempt to activate a powerful social rule the norm of social responsibility that says you should help those who are in need (Rosenfeld et al., 1995, p.56). One heavy cost attached to using supplication is the costs of one’s self-esteem in admitting one’s incompetence. Supplication is used by individuals who are not able to use any of the strategies presented previously, as it involves exploiting one’s weaknesses.
Meaning, if individuals can’t flatter their colleagues and also can’t talk themselves up… then they talk themselves down.
Or, to reverse that, once individuals begin to talk themselves down with supplication… the other impression management strategies are no longer valid. Because who wants to be praised or bragged to by someone who’s already revealed themself incompetent? These behaviors won’t be effective, having disempowered oneself.
And furthermore, this is the way around the conundrum described last time! If we work too hard to appear “fine” and “well functioning” then no one can see or can care about our real issues, needs, weaknesses. But if individuals, instead, go into a situation presenting those readily, hopefully someone will provide an assist.
Is this the covert narcissism strategy for impression management? “To go low to request high?” Yes it is.
Fourth most common imp man method?
INTIMIDATION
Intimidation is an impression management strategy designed to increase the credibility of one’s threats and in turn enhance the probability that the target will comply with the actors’ demands for agreement (Tedeschi & Riess, 1981, p.11). Item 5 in the questionnaire-“Intimidation to get colleagues to behave properly” got the highest score of 2.114. Using Intimidation; the respondents’ tries to convince his target that he is dangerous (Jones & Pittman, 1982) and generally flow from high level to low level and usually a form of downward influence (Rosenfeld et al., 1995)
So, this time the power imbalance is reversed! Rather than influencing people “above,” Intimidation is used to control people “below” the responder. However, we can extrapolate that by controlling folks “underneath your rank,” individuals can impress their superiors… through taking credit for those “lowerlings’” accomplishments and/or possibly through appearing to be an effective or influential manager.
But obviously this is not the most direct form of impression management, and it also isn’t the most common. Leading us to the least popular option. Number five out of five:
EXEMPLIFICATION
The top item in this category - “Arrive at work early to look dedicated”. Here Exemplifiers are those respondents who arrive at work early to look dedicated. They also avoid taking holidays. This tactic can also involve strategic self-sacrifice (Rosenfeld et al., 1995). These individuals are willing to suffer to help others but in reality also attempt to make others feel guilty because they are not acting in the same morally and integer manner. Furthermore, the exemplifier often wants other people to know how hard he/she has been working, because they need to advertise their behavior (Rosenfeld et al., 1995). The target can reduce their feelings of guilt by at least supporting the cause of the exemplifier (Jones & Pittman, 1982).
So this time, the individual tries to show dedication to the organization and values of the organization to earn favor. A noble goal of displayed devotion. Except, they might have to make sure that their efforts are seen, so they can get their accolades. And this is 1) wormy and 2) less likely to make people like them. I would say this is the most costly option of the five, because it often requires real work rather than simply putting words together. It COMES at a cost if it goes well AND has high risks of negative blowback if it goes poorly.
But let’s hear what our author has to say, in a conclusive rundown of their findings that includes discussion of the risks of each strategy. Well, almost.
CONCLUSION
The most common tactic used for Impression Management is Ingratiation. Employees attempt to make themselves likeable or more attractive to their colleagues by appreciating their accomplishments and achievements. But if this is done in excess , it may also result in disliking instead of creating a liking for self.
Next most common tactic used is Self-promotion. Employees who claim their competencies will be highlighted only when the observer is competent himself. In case of an incompetent observer, it will be tinted that these employees using Self-promotion have something to cover-up or make-up for. A good strategy for the self-promoter can be to organize that others will make claims on his/her behalf.
Ahhh, get others to promote you FOR you. Perhaps partially through ingratiation. Very sneaky. And perhaps it is necessary, depending on gender. They say:
Women who behave forcefully and boldly and in a positive manner are not evaluated as positively as men who engage in the same behavior (Rudman, 1998). Findings of their research put forth that women pay the price for this counter stereotypical behavior, even if it is essential for a flourishing career. It is not like they lack the ability to promote themselves, but they daily have to choose regarding how to present themselves; whether in a feminine manner or a professional one (Rudman, 1998).
So, remember, we learned that women are more likely to use impression management… and also, now we’ve learned that they have to be highly strategic in which method they choose, because certain behaviors are less allowable for those identified as females. How do we stay safe? It’s never an easy answer. Love this for us.
Supplication. This tactic emphasizes employees dependence and weakness to obtain help from a more powerful other. Employees using the tactic are perceived as lazy and demanding. By advertising their lack of ability, they attempt to activate a powerful social rule the norm of social responsibility that says you should help those who are in need (Rosenfeld et al., 1995, p.56). As mentioned earlier with this tactic the danger lies in its overuse (Rosenfeld et al., 1995). Employees using Supplication tactic may lose his self-esteem by admitting one’s incompetencies in a particular task or field. If an employee overuse or use it ineffectively, they can backfire and produce negative rather than positive reactions from others. If a colleague evaluates another colleague unfavorably it is also expected that this individual will be evaluated more negatively as to how much he/she is liked.
Fourthly:
Using Intimidation technique may result in negative relationship and disliking.
Kicker: and in some cases receive favorable performance evaluations out of fear.
Ahh, I guess you can just scare your manager into liking you. Interesting approach. Don’t recommend.
But here’s the wrapup statement, to mirror what we spoke about last time:
While tactics of Impression Management often succeed this is not always the case, and sometimes, they can boomerang, adversely affecting reactions to the people using them. Hence it is important to make a good impression on others when we care about their evaluations on us.
Hmmm. Great.
Two things as we wrap up this paper’s findings.
- The English used in the Conclusion really falls apart and diminishes the quality of the article overall. If you were cringing for the last five minutes or so… same, you probably hear me speaking through my teeth in this recording. But I appreciate their efforts.
- You may have noticed something… They didn’t provide any discussion on Exemplification. At all! Not only is it the least used impression management strategy… suggesting that people are far more likely to put their mouth where their money is…. To talk the talk instead of walking the walk…. To use verbal impression management behaviors instead of physically DOING ANYTHING or inconveniencing themselves… but also, perhaps it has fewer social dangers, because, in general, AIN’T NOBODY MAD WHEN YOU OVERWORK YOURSELF FOR THEIR BENEFIT. Common sense and experience says: your reputation won’t be harmed by going above and beyond (except by coworkers who don’t appreciate the negative comparison). People are happy to take advantage of you if you’ll perform 5 jobs for the salary of 1. And as we keep saying – no one likes a try hard, except for the ways they can be utilized like a tool. It doesn’t amount to being liked.
But what do I know? Those are just my reflections. Sample size… even smaller than the one in this paper.
I hope this rundown of imp man tactics has given you a few things to think about.
And next time we’ll return…. Either to wrap up some loose ends in this conversation and get into some of the personal details behind this series… or to move right along to another closely related topic.
Peer pressure. And the circumstances that promote its influence on behavior.
Because holy shit, it sure seems like half of the US is back in high school lately, refusing to have their own identities while over-identifying with some immature, adult-masquerading, templates gone wrong. And it’s interesting to think about why that is.
Maybe the research will tell us.
Hint: yeah, it does.
I’ll talk to you then!
In the meantime:
Don’t intimidate the people perceived “lower” than you.
Don’t give up your authenticity to impress or flatter those “higher” than you, either.
And also… genuinely going above and beyond? Still isn’t the fucking answer. It disempowers you to everyone while depleting you of your life.
(Note to self.)
Take care out there.
Be you.
Be less concerned how others feel about that.
And cheers y’all.
I’ll talk to you soon.